In crisis-hit Athens, plans for a mosque reveal deep divisions

June 27, 2013|Reuters

* Athens one of few EU capitals without formal mosque

* Government plans to spend nearly 1 million euros

* Move challenged by religious leader, far-right

By Karolina Tagaris

ATHENS, June 27 (Reuters) - Pakistani taxi driver MuhammadZafeer says he has to look over his shoulder when he goes topray in Athens, where racist attackers have targeted several ofthe many makeshift mosques set up in cramped garages or dingywarehouses.

So Greece's plan to build a state-funded mosque in thecapital, more than a century in the making, comes as a relief,even if it will be housed in a disused naval base littered withweeds and rubble in a rundown neighbourhood.

"This place used to be packed but these days people arescared to even go out to pray," said Zafeer, as Muslim men inlong traditional robes and colourful caps prepared for Fridayprayers behind the steel-grilled windows of a former factory.

"Greece has to decide if it will be democratic or if it willgo back to the Middle Ages," he said with a shrug.

Reviving the long-stalled project during Greece's worstpeacetime economic crisis has divided a country that spent fourcenturies under Turkish Ottoman rule, where the Orthodox Churchis powerful and hostility towards immigrants is rising.

Soon after the government launched a tender in May to buildthe mosque, the far-right Golden Dawn party, which deniesaccusations of links to attacks on immigrants but says it wantsto "rid Greece of their stench", pledged to "fight until thebitter end" to block the plan.

One local bishop, Seraphim, was so furious he took thematter to Greece's highest administrative court, the Council ofState. A ruling is not expected for months.

The mosque's critics say Athens, kept afloat by aninternational bailout, cannot spare the almost one million eurosit will cost given that Greece is in a sixth year of recession,with record high unemployment and sinking living standards.

"There's money to build a mosque but there's no money forGreeks to live with dignity," Golden Dawn, which polls show isthe third most popular party in Greece, said in a statement.

Protests have been gathering steam outside the planned siteat the naval base in Votanikos, a rundown industrialneighbourhood lined with car dealerships and factories.

Led by the far-right National Front movement, flag-wavingdemonstrators including nuns and men in military-style shirts,chanted "If you want a mosque, build it in parliament!" at thefirst of the protests at the end of May.

Flyers depicting a mosque in a circle with a line through itwere strewn across the floor.

"It's not exactly the best time to go ahead with it rightnow," said Theodore Couloumbis of the ELIAMEP foreign policythink tank. "The country has plenty of instability of its owndue to the economic crisis".

"RIVERS OF BLOOD"

In the port of Piraeus, where hundreds of Greek Orthodoxfaithful packed the 174-year-old Holy Trinity church to hearBishop Seraphim deliver Sunday mass, 62-year-old retired navalcaptain Ioannis Kaniaros called the decision "provocative".

Seraphim, who is challenging the decision in court, saysbuilding a mosque is unconstitutional and part of a plan to"Islamise" Greece, a major gateway for Asian immigrants tryingto enter the European Union each year.

"I want to emphasise that Athens is the only Europeancapital that went through four centuries of slavery under Islam,and managed to free itself just 200 years ago by spilling riversof blood," he said in an interview.

Greece is home to about 1 million immigrants, and groupslike Golden Dawn say undocumented workers have pushed up crimeand put a burden on state resources at a time of crisis.

Muslim groups estimate more than 200,000 Muslims fromcountries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh live inAthens alone.

Racially-motivated attacks have risen to alarming levelsduring the crisis, according to the United Nations' refugeeagency UNHCR, which said the authorities were doing little totackle the problem.

At least one informal mosque has been set on fire. Onanother, someone has scrawled profanities in black paint.

"It's very important for us that the mosque is built. Wewould feel like we live in a free country, we would feel safe",said Shabaz Ahamed, a Pakistani Muslim motioning to a securitymonitor installed in his makeshift mosque after a group of menstormed in hurling abuse and threats a few months ago.

The city, which has not had a formal mosque since Greece wonindependence from occupying Ottomans in 1832, has come underfire by human rights groups such as Amnesty International forbeing one of the few European capitals without one.

Repeated plans for a post-Ottoman mosque in Athens began inearnest in 1880, with an act of parliament, but all fellthrough, including one timed for the 2004 Olympic Games.